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House Bill removed Planned parenthood funding.

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When you hear the term "no more wire hangers" what do you think of?  Mommy Dearest?  To be honest, me too but there is also another meaning that we all know.   Law makers may drive us back to the time before women had reproductive rights.  I just can't believe that this has happened.  Planned Parenthood has been stripped of all federal funding.  What are they thinking?

Representitive Mike Pence initiator of this bill poses this question,  "Why should taxpayers opposed to abortion be forced to pay for that which they find morally reprehensible?"  He is an idiot because Title X does not in anyway fund abortions. Here is the jist of the bill

Title X

The Title X Family Planning program ["Population Research and Voluntary Family Planning Programs" (Public Law 91-572)], was enacted in 1970 as Title X of the Public Health Service Act. Title X is the only federal grant program dedicated solely to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services. The Title X program is designed to provide access to contraceptive services, supplies and information to all who want and need them. By law, priority is given to persons from low-income families.

The Title X Family Planning program is administered within the Office of Public Health and Science, Office of Population Affairs (OPA) by the Office of Family Planning (OFP). In fiscal year 2010, Congress appropriated approximately $317,491 million for family planning activities supported under Title X. At least 90 percent of the appropriation is used for clinical family planning services as described in the statute and regulations (45 CFR Part 59).

In calendar year 2008, 88 Title X grantees provided family planning services to approximately five million women and men through a network of more than 4,500 community-based clinics that include State and local health departments, tribal organizations, hospitals, university health centers, independent clinics, community health centers, faith-based organizations, and other public and private nonprofit agencies. In approximately 75% of U.S. counties, there is at least one clinic that receives Title X funds and provides services as required under the Title X statute.

Over the past 40 years, Title X family planning clinics have played a critical role in ensuring access to a broad range of family planning and related preventive health services for millions of low-income or uninsured individuals and others. In addition to contraceptive services and related counseling, Title X-supported clinics provide a number of related preventive health services such as: patient education and counseling; breast and pelvic examinations; breast and cervical cancer screening according to nationally recognized standards of care; sexually transmitted disease (STD) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) prevention education, counseling, testing and referral; and pregnancy diagnosis and counseling. By law, Title X funds may not be used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning.

The Title X program also supports three key functions, authorized under the Title X statute aimed at improving the quality of family planning services and assisting clinics with responding to client needs. These functions include: (1) training for family planning clinic personnel through ten regional general training programs and three national training programs that focus on clinical training, enhancing quality family planning services for males, and/or coordination of training activities on the national level; (2) data collection and family planning research aimed at improving the delivery of family planning services; and, (3) information dissemination and community based education and outreach activities. These functions help to ensure that family planning services are evidence-based and of high quality.

The Title X family planning program is intended to assist individuals in determining the number and spacing of their children. This promotes positive birth outcomes and healthy families. The education, counseling, and medical services available in Title X-funded clinic settings assist couples in achieving these goals.

I really don't know what this man was thinking when he introduced the bill.  Only about 3% of Planned Parenthoods money goes toward abortion and none of that is federal money.  What about the other  97% which goes towards education, HIV testing, low cost birth control, pregancy testing, STD treatment and other womens services? 

I have used Planned Parenthood for birth control and for Plan B (after a contraception accident) when I was struggling and in college.   I am

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MarMue 5 pts

I agree with Everything you have said as well.

Marie

abgirl 5 pts

I know I've already been far too long winded but I can't help but add a couple more things to think about.

In Canada, there is no "abortion law". Not one law on the books that regulates abortion; it is technically legal right until birth. In most provinces, Medicare covers the cost of every and any abortion for any reason: i.e., it is completely free of charge for anyone, and in most provinces, there are no legal hurdles. Yet, no abortion is performed past 20 weeks unless it is for compelling health reasons (doctors have agreed that this is the point when abortion becomes risky for the woman). 90% of abortions occur in the first trimester, and of the last 10%, the majority occur between 12 and 16 weeks. Almost none after 16 weeks unless for health reasons.

I mention this because I think a lot of pro-lifers are picturing mini-humans being killed. In reality, most abortions remove a small mass of cells from a woman. I don't believe abortions after 20 weeks should happen EVER, unless a woman's life is threatened. But this is exactly the case in Canada. When you create financial or legal obstacles to abortion (I have read about pregnant women in the U.S. "saving up" to get an abortion) you increase the risk of late-term abortions. This harms babies and mothers. When I heard Michelle Bachman's ridiculous statement in the House about "mall abortions" (women conveniently stopping to get abortions during shopping trips), I get the feeling she wants me to be appalled, but honestly if that's true I think that's great. Ensuring abortion is accessible as early as possible in the pregnancy reduces the risk of harm to mothers and babies.

abgirl 5 pts

I live in Canada but I have been following this latest round of attacks on women in the U.S. I had an abortion at 20 years old and I am so thankful that I did and was able to access it easily. (I blogged about it: http://www.blogher.com/i-had-abortion) Legal and safe abortion is key to a healthy, strong society.

I recently had a debate with someone online who is (or maybe was, now) vehemently pro-life. I explained my case, and maybe she was just being polite, but I think she really understood it when I explained that I used to be against abortion (I was always against it morally, though I supported the legality of it because I have always known women will do it whether it is legal or not) but that I changed literally the second I found out I was pregnant.

There are two main issues I think we can't get away from.

1: With a few extremist types notwithstanding, most pro-lifers will say they are against abortion, EXCEPT in cases of rape, incest, or when a woman's life is threatened by pregnancy. An anti-choicer who really believes in this exception creates a significant weakness in his/her position.

The first retort I have is very simple. If you believe a woman who has been raped or whose health is threatened should be allowed to terminate her pregnancy, then you acknowledge that a fetus' "right to life" comes secondary to a woman's suffering. Either you believe a fetus is a separate entity whose life is more important than a woman's preference, or you don't. I don't believe there is a middle ground.

Even if you are willing to look past this contradiction, there's more: rape cannot always be proven; is every woman who claims to have been raped supposed to be put on trial to determine whether she can have an abortion?

Another thing is that there are many situations other than rape/incest/what have you that may make pregnancy a traumatizing experience for a woman, and many other situations in which a woman may have become pregnant against her will. It's more common than we might think for men to tamper with their partners' birth control, usually in a desperate attempt to keep them around. Also, a woman who had consensual sex with an abusive partner out of fear, may as well have been raped; a rape kit won't show this, however.

Where is the line in the sand we draw to say that a woman has been through enough suffering to be deem worthy of the right to terminate her pregnancy? And how can we even know how much a woman is suffering anyway?

2: A big, big reason abortion needs to be legal is that, legal or not, safe or not, women have always, currently do and will always seek abortions. In Latin America, illegal abortion is among the top 3 killers of young women (depending on what you read, it may be THE leading cause or death). Legal abortion saves women's lives.

I used to think of abortion as a sort of secondary "wedge" issue that shouldn't necessarily determine my voting preference. Now I see that legal abortion goes hand in hand with women being able to lead productive lives. If abortion was not legal, and not just legal, but free of charge and easily accessible, my life would be so different. Since my abortion, it may be the most important political issue to me.